As vice chairman of America Online, owner of sports teams and serial entrepreneur, Ted Leonsis has accomplished enough for many lifetimes. In addition, however, he uses the leverage of his position and his entrepreneur's drive to tackle a multitude of philanthropic goals.

Finding venture capital is a matter of securing the right fit between founder and funder, writes the author. Affinity with a investor helps, such as pursuing groups that finance the type of company that yours is, such as a minority- or female-led firm; also necessary is a plan outlining your company's financial prospects and a pitch for convincing investors that you can execute, the author notes.

A veteran media industry executive, Ron Bloom is the visionary CEO and business leader behind the founding of PodShow. Ron is ultimately responsible for PodShow's business units, team building, operations, financing and
hyper-growth. Bloom was the chief strategist in securing PodShow's elite private investors, including venture firms Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital and Sherpalo Ventures. Bloom is often referenced as the author of the media industry's
"5/50" rule and Fart's Law of consumer technology adoption. Ron Bloom is a former Chairman and Chief Executive Office of THINK New Ideas, a company he founded with PodShow co founder Adam Curry. He helped to build the Company to over 500
employees working out of 8 offices in the US and abroad, driving revenues from a start-up to approaching $100 million in less than three years. He led the company through venture rounds, an IPO, multiple acquisitions, a private placement
of public equity, and, eventually the sale of the company for an estimated 350 million dollars. Prior to joining THINK New Ideas, Bloom again partnered with Adam Curry, acting as President and Chief Operating Officer of On Ramp helping it
to become one of FORTUNE Magazine's "Top 25 Emerging Technology Companies of 1995. In recent years, he has worked with a range of companies, helping to develop technologies for the cable industry as well as helping to launch a company that
provides technology solutions for Homeland Security. In his first career, Ron Bloom was a celebrated song writer and recording artist, having collaborated on several Top 10 hits, including Into the Night, which was a hit single twice. His
musical talents and artistic perspective have helped to shape PodShow's products, marketing, services and talent relationships.

Something extraordinary happened in Kansas City last Thursday. For the second year in a row, some of Kansas City's largest organizations participated in a reverse pitch. KCNext, the host and organizer, brought in a capacity crowd of over 200 entrepreneurs and other Global Entrepreneurship Week event participants. There were 65 events in Kansas City spread across a week and a half. But this event was different. This one was special.

What if we could take the top talent coming out of colleges and universities today, those that tend to feed into law school, med school, Wall Street and consulting, and put them in startups all over the country? Imagine the job growth possibilities we could create in the country just by giving recent graduates a taste of that entrepreneurial bug. Now, what if I told you there's an organization trying to do just that. Enter--Venture for America.

Rahul Sood, General Manager of Microsoft Ventures, is changing how we help startups accelerate. Targeting markets across the globe, Microsoft Ventures is bringing entrepreneurial mentoring, backed by Microsoft's products and support, to give their accelerator companies an unfair advantage in the market.

1 Million Cups launched in Provo, Utah at the end of January, just the latest program added to a vibrant and well-connected community. Provo has a rich technology history, outstanding education and a bright and supportive entrepreneurial future. This mountain city of 120,000 residents in the Utah Valley lives its vision of creating jobs and building a culture of growth through four distinct areas.

Medical foundations play a role in helping medicine advance through their philanthropy, but sometimes even the most well-intentioned of them can lose their way. Read more about how these foundations can stay focused on their goals.

Vinod grew up dreaming of being an entrepreneur. He was raised in an Indian Army household with no business or technology connections. When, at age 16, he first heard about Intel, he dreamt of starting his own technology
company. Upon graduating with a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, he tried to start a soy milk company to service the many people in India who did not have refrigerators. He then came to
the US and got his Masters in Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie-Mellon University. His startup dreams attracted him to Silicon Valley where he got an MBA at Stanford University in 1980. In 1982, Khosla started Sun Microsystems to build
workstations for software developers. At Sun he pioneered "open systems" and RISC processors. Sun was funded by long time friend and board member John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. In 1986 he switched sides and joined
Kleiner Perkins where he was a general partner. There, he worked with Nexgen/AMD, Juniper, Excite, and many other ventures. In 2004, Khosla formed Khosla Ventures. Khosla Ventures offers venture assistance, strategic advice and capital to
entrepreneurs. The firm helps entrepreneurs extend the potential of their ideas in both traditional venture areas like the Internet, computing, mobile, and silicon technology arenas but also supports breakthrough scientific work in clean
technology areas such as bio-refineries for energy and bioplastics, solar, battery and other environmentally friendly technologies.

Vinod grew up dreaming of being an entrepreneur. He was raised in an Indian Army household with no business or technology connections. When, at age 16, he first heard about Intel, he dreamt of starting his own technology
company. Upon graduating with a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, he tried to start a soy milk company to service the many people in India who did not have refrigerators. He then came to
the US and got his Masters in Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie-Mellon University. His startup dreams attracted him to Silicon Valley where he got an MBA at Stanford University in 1980. In 1982, Khosla started Sun Microsystems to build
workstations for software developers. At Sun he pioneered "open systems" and RISC processors. Sun was funded by long time friend and board member John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. In 1986 he switched sides and joined
Kleiner Perkins where he was a general partner. There, he worked with Nexgen/AMD, Juniper, Excite, and many other ventures. In 2004, Khosla formed Khosla Ventures. Khosla Ventures offers venture assistance, strategic advice and capital to
entrepreneurs. The firm helps entrepreneurs extend the potential of their ideas in both traditional venture areas like the Internet, computing, mobile, and silicon technology arenas but also supports breakthrough scientific work in clean
technology areas such as bio-refineries for energy and bioplastics, solar, battery and other environmentally friendly technologies.

A network of U.S. cities facilitating a weekly entrepreneur education program. Go to 1 Million Cups >

Whether you are starting or growing a company, FastTrac will help you live your dream at each stage.Go to FastTrac >

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